Heritage Toronto

Poster for U.S. out of El Salvador protest, Toronto, June 1981. Courtesy of Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean.

El Salvador Solidarity Week Poster, Toronto, March 1982. Courtesy of Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean.

Solidarity march with El Salvador, Toronto, June 29 1981. Image by Mark Phillips. Courtesy of Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean.

Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples

New Services for Newcomers

As the Latin American population grew in Toronto during the 1970s and 1980s, new organizations opened to provide services to newcomers. One of these was the Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples (CSSP), which was established in 1973 and offered daycare service, legal aid, and counselling. The organization also provided a hub for those hoping to become more involved in Toronto’s Spanish-speaking community.

Hear from Barbara Jackman, a lawyer who began working at CSSP during the 1970s, when she was a student at the University of Toronto:

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Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples

Solidarity with El Salvador

The CSSP also provided a home for the Committee of Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (COSPES). COSPES was formed in 1980 to bring awareness to U.S. involvement in the Salvadoran Civil War (1979-1992). COSPES also hoped to influence Canadian policy makers to put pressure on the U.S. government to cease funding the Salvadoran military.

In 1981, COSPES raised over $25,000 for aid services in El Salvador. Protests on the topic regularly took place at the U.S Consulate in Toronto, as well as many other locations in the city throughout the 1980s. An entire week of solidarity events took place in March of 1982, organized by the CSSP.

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Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples

After the War

On January 16 1992, the Salvadoran Civil War ended with the signing of the Chapultepec Peace Accords. Shortly thereafter, COSPES dissolved. The feeling amongst the Salvadoran community was one of hopefulness for the country’s future, as well as accomplishment. Many of the original members of the committee went on to continue their political activism in unions and environmentalist groups, while some transitioned into academia.

The war in El Salvador marked one of the last major conflicts and mass exodus of immigrants from Latin America. The political tones that motivated the groups from the 1970s and 1980s gave way to more community-based organising, not tied to any specific, nation-based conflict. There was no longer a war to fight back home, but rather a life to live in a new one.

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Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples

The Neighborhood Migrates

The Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples moved several times during the 1980s; however, it remained a constant fixture in the neighbourhood west of Spadina Avenue, between Bloor Street West and College Street. As the Latin American community went through a metamorphosis, so too did the CSSP and the neighbourhood it once occupied. The centre migrated north from its original location in the West End of Toronto to its current location at 2141 Jane Street in North York.

Today, the organization focuses primarily on settlement services for newly arrived immigrants. The community that once centred around the CSSP’s location in the West End moved along with it. Today, the Latin American community can be found throughout the Greater Toronto Area, notably St. Clair West, North York, and Scarborough.

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Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples

New Services for Newcomers

Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples

Solidarity with El Salvador

Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples

After the War

Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples

The Neighborhood Migrates

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